Posted by From LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja on
The Federal Government on Wednesday suspended 16 different tank farms in Lagos from discharging their petroleum products using the NPA ports and also banned the creation of new tank farms around the vicinity of the Lagos ports.
The Federal Government on Wednesday suspended 16 different tank farms in Lagos from discharging their petroleum products using the NPA ports and also banned the creation of new tank farms around the vicinity of the Lagos ports.
The Federal Executive Council which met in Abuja on Wednesday under the chairmanship of President Umaru Yar'Adua gave the order in a determination to decongest the access roads leading to and within the Lagos Port Complex and sanitise the activities of the farm operators.
The Minister of Transportation, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke ,who briefed the State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting in this regard said the suspension became necessary to curb the menace of articulated tankers in the city.
The minister, accompanied to the briefing by Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, who was invited by the council to throw more light on the issue said the activities of the tank farms had impacted negatively on other businesses in the area as it had encouraged drivers of articulated tankers to congest access roads to the ports.
The suspension, she said would remain in force and would not be revisited until the operators of the tank farms provided requisite facilities to accommodate vehicles meant to take products from them.
Governor Fashola said the measure would not only sanitise the area, but would also halt the trend of numerous accidents being recorded on the Lagos roads as a result of the activities of the tank farms.
He explained that in spite of modern communication facilities available in the country, the tank farms and their customers had refused to relocate to a terminal allocated to them and the articulated vehicle drivers had defied other measures to decongest the access roads.
He argued that the suspension would not affect petroleum products' supply because its advantages by far outweighed its disadvantages.
The Minister of Information and Communications, Mr. John Odey, also announced the council's approval of N993.1 million contract for the execution of various projects slated for the Nigeria University Games Association (NUGA) GAMES to be hosted by the University of Nigeria Nsukka in March next year.